Faith When I Fall
by LateNightDramaQueen
Summary: Its the Marauders 7th year at Hogwarts. Times are dark, but our favorite Gryffindors still make time for some fun and maybe even to fall in love? Some deviation from canon Please R&R Pairings include JP/LE, SB/MM, RL/MM different MMs , PP/DM
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've noticed this first chapter has quite a few more hits than the chapters to follow. This is probably common, but I am very much interested in hearing what people don't like about the story. If you don't continue reading, I'd really appreciate your constructive feedback in the reviews or a private message! I'm fairly new to this type of writing and every bit helps! **

**Thanks!**

**Enjoy! **

Lily Evans woke with a start on the morning of September 1st, 1977. _It was just another nightmare, _she thought, as she lay panting in her bed at her parents' home in Little Whinging. But what a terrible nightmare it had been.

The situation in England was growing dimmer by the day as more and more people were killed at the hand of the man calling himself Voldemort. Fortunately, Lily hadn't known anyone to be killed in the war just yet, but the terrible stories she'd read in the _Prophet _and seen on the muggle news were enough to send chills down her spine.

Closing her eyes, Lily tried desperately to fall back to sleep, but knew it was no use; she was still too shaken from her nightmare. Glancing at the clock, she sighed; 4:30 am. 6 ½ hours until she needed to be at platform 9 ¾'s to catch the Hogwarts Express. Knowing she didn't have a chance of getting any more sleep, Lily decided to get up and make breakfast; blueberry pancakes, her favorite. By the time she finished eating, her father was up and Lily spent a lovely morning playing Chess with him; he was fascinated by the Wizards' version of the game.

Finally the time came for Lily to leave for King's Cross Station.

"Goodbye Daddy," Lily said giving her father a hug and kiss on the cheek, before turning and doing the same with her mother. "Bye mum."

"Bye Lily," they both said, smiling. "Have fun and be safe." Lily forced a smile as she waved and then disapperated. They said the same thing every year as she left for Hogwarts; little did they know how difficult the latter half of their request might be this year. Although her parents also watched the muggle news, Lily had tried to keep them somewhat in the dark as far as what was happening in her world. She felt it was for the best they not know too much and not to make them worry for her. _Admit it, _she thought, _you're also terrified of what Petunia would say if she knew. _Lily sighed, her older sister hadn't even bothered to wake up to say goodbye to Lily that morning.

"Oi! Evans!" Lily heard an all too familiar voice call, breaking her from her thoughts; she hadn't even realized she was now standing on Platform 9 ¾'s. "Evans!" The voice called again, and Lily turned to see the obnoxious James Potter waving at her, along with his boisterous best friend.

"Potter," Lily greeted cooly. "Black."

"Evans," Black nodded. "Had a good summer, have you?"

"The best," Lily responded, slightly sarcastically. "And you."

"'t was alright. I leave you two be now." He said with a grin before clapping Potter on the back and bounding off towards the scarlet steam engine. Lily and James stood awkwardly for a moment before finally:

"Head Girl?" James grinned, nodding at her badge. "I knew you would be. Congratulations."

"Thanks. Have you heard if Remus made Head Boy?"

"Erm," James scratched the book of his neck, looking almost embarrassed—a new look for him, Lily noted. "Actually, its me."

"Pardon?"

"It's me," James repeated, pulling out his badge. "I'm Head Boy." Lily stared in disbelief, then finally cracked the smallest of smiles.

"Oh haha Potter, very funny. You better give Remus his badge back. We have the prefects' meeting soon." James sighed and shook his head, pulling out a letter from Dumbledore indicating that he was in fact Head Boy. Lily blinked. Then exploded:

"But that's impossible! You weren't even a prefect! You-you-." Fortunately for James she was cut off then as Marlene and Mary tackled her in a bear hug. James scurried away to find his friends before Lily could recover.

"What's going on?" Mary asked, sensing the tension in the air. Lily continued to stare dumfounded at the place where James had been. Marlene giggled.

"I know!" she smirked. "James' just told you he's had boy, hasn't he?" Lily whirled to face her friend.

"You knew?" she growled. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

"Like hell I was going to tell you!" Marlene laughed. "You are definitely the shoot-the-messenger type Lils."

"James Potter is Head Boy?" Mary asked in disbelief. "I thought surely Remus… or perhaps Michael Davis."

"Right?!"

"Oh untwist your knickers," Marlene said, rolling her eyes. "I've told you a thousand times, he's really not bad. And besides, he's grown up a lot this summer. I think he'll make a great Head Boy, and clearly Dumbledore thinks so. Give him a chance Lils."

"No," was Lily's stubborn response. With that, Lily turned and stalked off towards the Hogwarts Express. Marlene groaned.

"She really is just impossible sometimes. Poor James." Mary laughed as the two girls also made their way onto the train.

"I know but she's our best friend. Whose side are you on anyway, McKinnon?"

"I'm on no side! They're both my friends and I could never choose between them. I just hate to see James get hurt _again."_ Marlene had always had a tricky time navigating her relationships with the Gryffindors of her year. Marlene and Lily were instant best friends upon meeting their first day at Hogwarts, but Marlene's grandparents were close friends of the Potters and thus she had practically grown up with James and was close to the Marauders as well. Unfortunately she and Remus Lupin—who was also close with the three most hard headed Gryffindors—often found themselves caught in the cross-fire between their friends.

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With a steadying breath, Lily slid open the door to the compartment where the prefects meeting was to be held. She was never going to be ok with James being Head Boy, but she needed to accept the facts and make the best.

When all the prefects had arrived, Lily opened her mouth to speak, but James beat her to it.

"Welcome everyone, and congratulations on being made a prefect this year. I'm James Potter, this is Lily Evans, and we're the head boy and girl for this year. Now I know everyone is anxious to get back to their friends, but we do have a few things to go over here. So please just sit tight and we'll get through all this as soon as possible." Lily stared open-mouthed at James. He was acting so responsible, and had really taken charge. It was… sexy… _WHAT? NO! I did not just think JAMES BLOODY POTTER was SEXY._

"First, here are the passwords to each house," James continued, passing out little slips of paper to one prefect from each house. "For those who are new, the prefects' bathroom is located on the fifth floor. It's the fourth door, to the left of the statue of Borris the Bewildered. Password's creamsicle." James then proceeded to go over the quidditch schedule for the year and the rounds schedule for the term. Lily continued to stare in shock.

"Anything you'd like to add Lily?" James asked. It took a moment for Lily to realize he was actually addressing her given he had used her real name and not called her Evans or one of the ridiculous nicknames he had for her.

"Erm… no, I think that's everything."

"Alright," James grinned and turned back to the prefects. "In that case, you're all free to go. I look forward to working with all of you; it's going to be a good year." All of the prefects filled out of the compartment, leaving James and Lily alone.

"Well I think that went pretty well, don't you?" James asked, clasping his hands. When Lily didn't answer, he hesitated, "Sorry if I kind of dominated. I just really wanted to show you I could do this."

"You did great," Lily said finally, sincerely. James beamed.

"Thanks. Listen, I'm gonna go back and join the guys. It's good to see you again Lily, and I really do think this is gonna be a great year." Lily just nodded, lost for words.

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"What in Godric's name is wrong with him?" Lily yelled, bursting into the compartment Marlene and Mary were sharing with two girls from the year below them; Alice Prewitt and Dorcas Meadowes.

"Who?"

"WHO? What do you mean _who?_Who do you think?" Lily continued to rant.

"James?" Alice asked, "I was just telling the girls how impressed I was with him at the prefects meeting. Did something happen after we left?"

"No! Nothing happened! No bad nicknames, no jokes, no pranks, no asking me out!"

"Um… did you want him to ask you out Lils?"

"OF COURSE NOT!"

"Were you not happy with how the meeting went?"

"No! He was bloody brilliant!" Marlene, Mary, Alice, and Dorcas stared at their friend as if she had grown an extra head. Finally, Marlene spoke:

"So what exactly is the problem Lils?"

"It's all just so… UNPOTTER! He's up to something; I know it!" The rest of the girls all shook their heads and quickly changed the subject, giving Lily's attitude towards James up as a lost cause for the moment.

"So Alice, how's Frank doing?" Mary asked, referring to Alice's boyfriend who had graduated from Hogwarts the year before.

"He's great!" said Alice, excitedly. "We got to spend the whole summer together living in his great new flat in London and he just started training as an Auror last week." And so their conversation continued throughout the long journey to Hogwarts, with Lily continuing to broad over James, until finally Marlene began to describe her summer flings.

This had become a yearly tradition on the Hogwarts Express. Marlene had always been a bit more promiscuous than her friends, particularly during the summer, and they always got a thrill—and a good laugh—hearing about her sexcapades. That particular summer, she had hooked up with a bus boy from a muggle burger joint near her family's home in Canterbury; a wizard who attended Drumstrang school whom she met on holiday in San Sebastian; and Tom Morgan, keeper for the Tutshill Tornados.

"Only 3 guys Mar? I think you may be losing your touch."

"Oh hush! I'm not that much of a tart!" Marlene defended, good-naturedly.

"I am seriously surprised though," Dorcas joked. "Not a single guy from Hogwarts? Gone through them all already, have you?" Marlene blushed, but didn't comment.

"Liar!" Lily exclaimed, forgetting her bad mood entirely. "You hooked up with a Hogwarts guy, didn't you?" Marlene mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key.

"Spill!"

"Fine," Marlene groaned. "It was Sirius."

"AGAIN?!" The girls all cried in unison. Marlene and Sirius had hooked up on and off since becoming good friends in fourth year. It was always the same pattern; they would hook up for a few weeks , before one would get bored and find something else. Then after a few months, they'd be back at it again. Only the last time it had happened was midway through 6th year and they'd had a bit of a row over it when Marlene had caught Sirius snogging Emmeline Vance, a fellow Gryffindor 7th year, just hours after she and Sirius had last shagged. Marlene had then responded by snogging Sirius' brother Regulus.

"Yes, well James had the team over for week early in the summer to practice and we had a few drinks, and… you get the idea."

"So just the one drunken night then?" Marlene blushed. "Stop being coy Marly. It doesn't suit you."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "There was just one other time. When I went back over to the Potters after—." She hesitated, and looked around guiltily as if she had almost revealed a very big secret. "Well in July sometime, we were just having a good chat, and I don't know… suddenly we weren't talking anymore." The girls all giggled except Lily, who rolled her eyes, but bit back a smile.

"Don't judge me Evans," Marlene pretended to be offended. "I'm not the first, the only, or the last girl to get sucked in by Sirius Black! I can't help it—the man's a wonder in the sack!" At that the compartment door slid open to reveal none other than Sirius Black and the rest of the 7th year guys.

"Talking about me Marlin?" Sirius winked.

"You wish!" Marlene retorted, though she flushed scarlet. Sirius grinned.

"What are you doing here?" Lily questioned indignantly. Sirius feigned hurt.

"We've come to see you of course, Lily flower! I'm bored of this lot," he gestured towards the other Marauders and attempted to wiggle himself between Marlene and Lily. "Scoot over and make some room, would you Lilykins." Lily rolled her eyes at the nickname but obliged Sirius' request, knowing there would be no beating him. The rest of the marauders took their seats as well until only James was left standing in the doorway with no more empty seats. Upon realizing this, Sirius leapt up.

"Jamsie! Take my seat!" He exclaimed, patting the seat next to Lily, which he had occupied only moments before. James looked questioningly at Lily, who let out what sounded like a defeated sigh, but nodded. After James had sat down, Sirius plopped himself on Marlene's lap.

"Uff! Sirius! Get off'r me! You're heavy!" Sirius leapt up again, and for the second time in five minutes feigned hurt.

"Are you calling me fat, McKinnon?"

"Come off it, Black!" Alice giggled. "Self-doubt really doesn't suit you." Sirius beamed, then scooped up a shocked and squealing Marlene, before sitting down again with her seated on his lap.

"This really wasn't what I had in mind, Black." She said, but leaned ever so slightly into him.

"You'll have to excuse him," Remus spoke for the first time since entering. He looked pointedly at James. "Somebody let him have a few too many sweets off the trolley."

James looked indignant. "Since when is it my responsibility to watch him?"

"Since you ordered all the candy!" James grinned.

"Oh, right. So who caught last week's Harpies match?" The rest of the train ride passed rather quickly and pleasantly. Lily was surprised that even she found herself enjoying the Marauders' company for a change. After Sirius had calmed down a bit, they really weren't too bad. Lily even found herself laughing at a few of James jokes, which resulted in shocked glances from the rest of the compartment's occupants.

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The welcome feast passed entirely uneventfully. For the first time since the Marauders had started at Hogwarts, they had not planned a prank for this event, and for the first time since fourth year, James did not ask Lily out throughout the entire meal. By the end of it, Lily was on an edge again, thinking James was surely up to something. After seeing the rest of Gryffindor house off to their tower, the pair made their way in tense silence to the Heads' dormitory.

"Everything alright Lily?" James asked hesitantly, his words cutting the silence like a knife.

"Hmmm." James did not attempt to break the silence again until they had reached the entrance to their common room.

"Pigs feet," Lily muttered. Both were stunned by the room that awaited them. It was smaller than the Gryffindor common room, but similarly decorated and extravagantly large for just the two of them. James let out a low whistle, and the pair turned to one another in awe. Grinning, they each darted for their respective dorms.

Lily let out a squeal of delight upon opening her door. The room was tastefully decorated, with accents in her favorite shade of green. A large bed stood in the middle of the room and Lily immediately ran and leapt on it. It was the most comfortable bed she had ever experienced.

Lily turned back towards the door when she heard a chuckle. James was standing in the doorway, grinning.

"Like it?" He asked.

"Love it!" She exclaimed. "This room almost makes up for the fact that I have to share the place with you!" It was meant as a joke, but James was barely able to contain the hurt he felt at her words.

He cleared his throat. "Would you like to see mine?"

"Sure!" Lily bounded off the bed and followed James back out into the common room and to his dorm. Lily was surprised to find she liked the décor in here as well. She didn't figure she and James might have similar tastes. His walls were painted pale blue, a second favorite color of Lily's, and were accented with silver. On one wall was painted the silver arrow of the Appleby Arrows. Through the giant window on another wall, there was a beautiful view of the sun setting over the forbidden forest. Lily realized her window must face East towards the lake and the sunrise.

"This is amazing, James." He grinned.

"I know! So worth the extra work of being Heads!" Lily's smile faltered slightly.

"Listen Lily, I know you were expecting Remus to be Head Boy." James began hesitantly. "I was too, believe me, I was shocked when I got my letter. And—well I mean I still don't really understand why Dumbledore picked me, but he won't change his mind, I asked—"

"You _asked_not to be head boy?"

"Well I knew you'd be head girl and wouldn't be ha—anyway that's not the point. The point is, I'm sorry you have to share this with me, but I want you to know I'm gonna do my best." Lily nodded and gave a small smile before turning back to her room.

"Goodnight Potter," she said softly.

"Goodnight Lily."

**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. Please tell me what you like/don't like about the story and if you think it's worth continuing. **


	2. Chapter 2

It was twelve days into the term, and still James Potter had not asked Lily Evans out once; not that she was counting. In fact, James had been almost… _pleasant _to be around in the first nearly two weeks of 7th year. And the pair had only quarreled once—impressively low—and it had only been half-heartedly on Lily's behalf. She rather agreed with her raven haired rounds partner that the likes of Randal Goyle—a known Voldemort follower—deserved to be hexed while caught snooping around after hours, but of course she'd never tell James that and as head girl, she had felt the need to reprimand him for such actions.

Rather than simply enjoy the seemingly improved Marauder and her newfound-maybe-almost friendship, Lily was growing increasingly suspicious of James' motives. Though at times her more reasonable side told her she was being ridiculous, most times Lily was certain James' change in behavior was merely a trick—another attempt to get her to go out with him. _Was it working?_

Lily had to admit, if this wasn't a trick she did rather like the new James. He was surprisingly responsible when it came to his head's duties, and he was a natural leader. In addition, as they were no longer so littered with insults, Lily had found herself frequently amused by James' many jokes.

She was thinking about all this while studying one evening in the Heads' common room, when James came stumbling in, all wind-swept haired and sweaty after the first Quidditch practice of the season.

_Bloody hell, he looked good. _Lily thought, before quickly shaking herself mentally. _No way was she even the slightest bit attracted to JAMES POTTER._

"Evening, Lily," James said with a face-splitting grin. _Practice must have gone well then. _

"Potter," Lily greeted, quickly turning back to her Runes essay. James looked a bit surprised by Lily's chilly greeting, but shrugged it off quickly as he walked towards his room to clean up.

Ten minutes later, he was back in the common room, freshly showered.

"Erm, Lily?" He said timidly. Lily turned and arched an eyebrow in response. "Erm… sorry to bother you, but have you finished that potions essay due tomorrow? You know… the one on the twelve uses of cobra venom?" Lily nodded.

"Do you… do you think you could maybe help me? I was working on it before practice and only came up with eight." Lily stared at James, unable to come up with a response. _Was James Potter seriously asking her for help? She doubted whether he had ever asked anyone for assistance on anything. _When several seconds past without a response from Lily, James quickly rushed on:

"It's OK if you're too busy, I understand. I'll ask Remus or someone… I just thought… well you're just so brilliant at potions, I thought… I'll just go find Remus." James gathered up his book bag and made his way back towards the portrait hole. As he passed Lily, she could have sworn the tips of his ears were pink, and finally she found her voice.

"Don't be silly, of course I'll help." James beamed.

"Really? You will? Thanks Lily, because see I already asked Sirius and Marly at quidditch and they only had six and said Remus hadn't gotten them all yet either. I knew you would have them, but I didn't want you to feel you had to help." Now Lily was certain, James was flushed slightly with embarrassment, and she gave a small giggle at that.

"You're quite terrible at asking for help you know," she told him. "Is this your first time?"

"Of course not! Everyone needs help sometimes, Lil… even James Potter," he added with a wink, causing Lily to giggle again.

"I love your laugh," James commented absently. "I don't think I've ever heard it before this year."

"Well don't let it go to your already inflated head, but I think you've gotten funnier."

James snorted. "I think you've just finally found your sense of humor, Evans. And my head is not inflated at all!" At this, he began making boxes with his head around his head, as if checking its dimensions. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Let's just get to work, shall we?" Lily was quite impressed with James list thus far. He even had one use that she hadn't gotten, and after Lily had helped James discover the final four uses, he helped her figure out which extra use she had written.

"It's python venom that's used in those age defying potions," James explained. He blushed again when Lily raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Mum used to use them."

"Used to?"

"Yeah." James didn't elaborate any further and Lily decided it was best not to press. It was really none of her business anyway.

"Anyway," James continued. "Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I should go help the guys… Marly too." Lily giggled again; Marlene needed all the help she could get at potions.

"See you Potter."

When James entered the Gryffindor common room, it was to find Peter, Remus, and Mary MacDonald working diligently on their potions essays.

"Where're Padfoot and Marly?"

"They both went straight upstairs after quidditch practice… haven't been back since. Wouldn't advise going up to our dormitory just now."

"Oh so that's back on, is it?"

"It's been on since summer Prongs. Where've you been?"

"Distracted I guess." Remus gave an apologetic half smile.

"Anyway," James plowed on. "How's that potions essay going?"

"Alright," said Mary, joining the conversation. "We're up to ten uses now. How many have you got?"

"Twelve," James grinned.

"Really?" Remus tried—and failed—to hide his surprise.

"Yep. Lily and I did it together," James continued proudly. "Or, mostly she helped me, but I gave her that it could be used in tranquilizing potions meant for giants, trolls, or dragons."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mary, writing furiously. "We didn't have that one! What else have you got?" James sat down and guided the others as to where to find the final use of cobra venom.

"So," Mary said with a playful grin as they rolled up their scrolls. "I was so excited about discovering another venom use; I completely overlooked the most important part of what you said earlier."

"Oh that's right," said Remus, catching on.

"What's that?" asked James, as nonchalantly as possible. The other three all rolled their eyes.

"You were studying with Evans!" Peter reminded him.

"You think it means something?" James asked Mary excitedly, completely dropping his cool act, and causing Mary to giggle and Remus and Peter to roll their eyes.

"I think it means she can finally stand to be in your presence." James beamed as if Mary had just told him Lily was in love with him.

"So should I ask her out?"

"NO!" Remus, Peter, and Mary all shouted in unison.

"One thing at a time, James," Mary added, gently but firmly.

"'spose you might be on to something with that MacDonald. Well, it's late. I should be getting back to my dorm. Night everyone."

"Wish I could go to my dorm," Peter whined. James laughed.

"I totally forgot about that! He and McKinnon are still up there?"

"So it seems," grumbled Remus. James looked back and forth between his two friends, but his expectant grin was met only with blank stares.

"Honestly, and you call yourselves Marauders?" James groaned. He grabbed something from his bag and marched upstairs, with Remus and Peter trailing closely behind. Mary paused for a moment, before curiosity got the best of her.

"Oh, what the hell?" And she scurried up the stairs behind the boys. She reached the 7th year boys dormitory just as James was cracking the door. He touched his wand to whatever was in his hand and tossed it through the crack. There was a second of silence, and then: _BANG! BANG! CRASH!_

"POTTER!" Marlene came running out of the dorm, wrapped in only a sheet with a boxer-clad Sirius trailing closely behind. James, Peter, Remus and Mary were doubled over in laughter on the stairs. "What are you playing at?"

"Remus and Peter would like their room back, Marls," James choked out between fits of laughter. Marlene blushed, while Sirius' bark of a laugh was added to the mix.

"Well you only had to ask," Marlene said, biting back an embarrassed smile. This only made Sirius laugh harder.

"Would you have preferred they walk in on us?" Marlene's blush deepened.

"I suppose not," she admitted, then turned back to James. "But you don't need to be such a prat!" She poked her tongue out at him, as she marched by, presumably back to her own dorm, with the others still cracking up on the stairs.

"Hey Marly," James called her back after she had gone a few steps. She pretended not to hear. "Marly!"

"Yes?"

"You might want to get dressed before going through the common room." Marlene could not have been any redder as she glanced down at herself, still covered by only the sheet, marched back up the stairs, and slammed the dormitory door.

Unfortunately Sirius was still inside the dormitory, laughing like a lunatic.

"Sirius!" she pouted. "This isn't funny!"

"You're right," he admitted, fighting to keep a straight face. "It's fucking hilarious!" Barks of laughter filled the room once more, and Marlene found herself unable to resist joining in. It _was _quite funny.

Fully dressed, Marlene exited the dormitory once more and found the others still laughing on the staircase. She gave James a playful shove as she passed.

"Next time knock," she retorted. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" the boys chorused as Marlene and Mary made their way down the stairs.

"Sleep well!" James added.

The first Slug Club party of the year was the following Friday, and all of the Gryffindor 7th years were invited. Marlene never understood why Slughorn wanted her at his parties, considering she was an absolute joke in his class, but she always attended in the hopes that he would go a little easy on her if she were in his good graces.

Lily also always came, because she actually _liked _Slughorn… somehow. Probably because potions was her favorite class and he was actually a decent potions master. James of course came because Lily was there, and Mary and the rest of the Marauders attended to be with their friends.

Marlene was actually rather excited for this particular party. Now that she and Sirius were back to shagging one another, and James and Lily were on fairly good terms, it could actually be quite fun. Alice and Dorcas from the year below had also been invited, along with Emmeline Vance, the fourth Gryffindor girl in her year. Marlene and Emmeline had never been particularly close, but Marlene was willing to put that behind her for the sake of the evening.

By the time the Gryffindors arrived at the party, the punch bowl had been spiked, and Slughorn and a good portion of the party guests were well past tipsy. Marlene was surprised to see that a lot of Slug Club alumni were also in attendance. This was also a surprise for Alice, who squeeled upon seeing her boyfriend Frank Longbottom, and rushed over to join him on the dance floor.

As Marlene watched Alice and Frank, Sirius appeared suddenly at her side.

"Care to dance?" he asked, handing her a glass of the spiked punch. Marlene grinned.

"Only if you think you can keep up!" she challenged, leading him out onto the dance floor. Benjamin Fenwick, a 7th year Ravenclaw was already dancing with Lily, Marlene notice with a small pang of disappointment for James, whom she saw was dancing with Dorcas. That left Peter to dance with Emmeline—Marlene didn't know which to feel sorrier for as Peter was rather uncoordinated and Emmeline was, well, a bit of a bitch.

Suddenly Marlene noticed that she hadn't accounted for Remus and Mary. She looked around anxiously for the pair and saw them standing awkwardly together near the punch bowl. _Damn them. Why were they both so painfully shy? _It was clear to Marlene that they were each very much into the other. Unfortunately this did not seem to be so clear for either Remus or Mary.

"You seem distracted," Sirius whispered as he spun her into him. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm just watching Remus and Mary. It's so obvious they like each other; I just wish one of them would do something about it!" Sirius chuckled, but Marlene thought it had an almost dark tone to it.

"I wouldn't expect Remus to be making any moves now or ever," he told her. "He's got this idea he can't be a proper boyfriend, so he won't bother with it at all."

"What?" Marlene asked, incredulously. "How can he think that? He's like the most perfect guy in our year—in all of Hogwarts maybe even!"

"Oi! And what about me?" Sirius asked with mock hurt. Marlene giggled.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" she told him. "You're great in different ways, but Remus is like serious boyfriend material." Sirius sighed.

"I know, but trust me: it's not going to happen. So don't go meddling and try to fix them up or you'll only make things hard for Remus. If you want to meddle, work on James and Lily." As if on cue, James appeared behind Sirius.

"Mind if I cut in?" he asked.

"Not at all," Marlene grinned, and moved away to let James dance with Sirius.

"Oh har har," James smirked. "I meant I wanted to dance with you."

"Ohhh," Marlene giggled. "I just never know with you Jamie." James rolled his eyes, but grinned. Sirius laughed as he left to go dance with Dorcas.

"Having a good time?" James asked as he and Marlene started dancing.

"The best… or I was until I got stuck dancing with the guy with two left feet!" Marlene said with a wink.

"Hey! I'm not a bad dancer, am I?" Marlene laughed.

"It's a shame, really, especially after all those dance classes your parents paid for!"

"Really?" James was comically nervous.

"Of course not!" Marlene giggled. "Potter, you prat! Since when do you care?"

"Well I wouldn't, only I want to ask Lily to dance tonight." _Of course. _For how arrogant he often came off, Marlene found it quite funny how insecure James could be when it came to her red head best friend.

"Well what are you doing dancing with me for then?"

"I wanted to ask if you thought it would be alright. Only we've been getting on so well and I don't want her to think I'm asking her out and get upset."

"I think asking her to dance would be just fine," Marlene assured. "In fact, she's not dancing with anyone right now, so go on!" She gave James a gentle shove and watched as he said something to Lily, who nodded, blushing ever so slightly, and the two began to dance.

This now left Marlene without a dance partner. Dorcas and Sirius seemed to be having fun she thought, so rather than interrupt, she took the opportunity to get another drink from the punch bowl. She looked to join Mary and Remus, but was surprised and excited to see that they too had finally made their way out on the dance floor.

"Odd man left out?" Marlene heard a familiar voice say from behind her as she filled her glass. She turned to see Regulus Black standing alone before her.

"You too, I see," she commented. Regulus shrugged and came over to stand beside her.

"I saw you dancing with my poor excuse for a brother earlier. Something between you two again?"

"Something," Marlene confirmed grimly. She noticed Sirius and Peter had now switched dance partners. Dorcas and Peter seemed to be doing the most outlandish moves they could, laughing all the while. Marlene had to admit Dorcas was a much better partner for Peter, but she wasn't overly thrilled to see Emmeline and Sirius together, especially considering the incident in 6th year.

"He's an idiot for dancing with her over you," Regulus commented. "You could do better than him, you know."

"Better like who?" Regulus didn't answer, then:

"Would you care to dance?" he asked. Marlene shrugged.

"Why not?" and she allowed Regulus to lead her past Sirius onto the dance floor. They danced for a few songs before James asked to cut in again, and Regulus politely left. James was grinning from ear to ear.

"I take it things went well?" Marlene asked.

"She's fantastic, she is," James said through his grin. "She's just gone to the loo so I can only dance for a bit, but I wanted to cut in between you and that wanker."

"I can look out for myself, thanks," replied Marlene, feeling slightly annoyed. She had actually quite enjoyed dancing with Regulus, and he seemed nice enough, despite being in Slytherin.

"Well you're not doing a very good job of it!" James retorted. "You know what Sirius' family is like."

"I know what Sirius says about his mother and father, but Regulus seems alright to me."

"Well he's not. And at the very least you should stay away because you know it will upset Sirius."

"Like he's stayed away from Emmeline tonight because it will upset me?" At that very moment, Emmeline appeared.

"I thought you might like to know that Sirius is not pleased with you," she informed Marlene, who rolled her eyes. Emmeline turned to James, "And he followed Regulus out of the party."

"Shit." James and Marlene raced out of the party, through the door to which Emmeline had gestured. They didn't have to go far before they found Sirius and Regulus locked in a fist fight, each already quite bloodied.

Under different circumstances, Marlene might have found the situation comically; here were two armed wizards, resorting to fist fighting. It was probably for the best actually—they could do a lot more damage with their wands.

James instantly jumped in the middle of the fight, trying to separate the two and taking a punch to the jaw. Marlene rolled her eyes. _Boys. _She pulled out her wand.

"Stupefy!" Someone else had yelled it at the same time, and both Black brothers froze at the same time. James whipped around with his hands up and found Lily with her wanted pointed at him, but she didn't curse him.

Slughorn then appeared at the scene, followed by Emmeline. He made a disapproving noise as he surveyed the scene.

"Well come along then," he said after a beat. "Let's go get this sorted with McGonagall." The color drained from Sirius' face as Slughorn lifted the hex on him and led the way to Professor McGonagall's office.

"I'm doomed, mate," he said grimly to James. James just shook his head.

"What's happened?" McGonagall asked Slughorn when they arrived at her office.

"I don't rightly know," Slughorn admitted, looking at the students for an explanation. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but James cut him off:

"It's like this professor. We were all at Slughorn's party when I saw Regulus dancing with Marlene here. We've known each other for ages you know, and I'm a bit protective of her and didn't like to see her dancing with a Slytherin, so I decided to do something about it. After Regulus left the party, I made to follow him, intending just to have a few words, but then we started fighting and fortunately Sirius and the girls came to break it up."

"Was that the way of it?" McGonagall asked Regulus, looking like she didn't quite believe it. After a momentary pause, Regulus nodded. McGonagall sighed. "Who threw the first punch?"

"I did," James said instantly. Sirius opened his mouth as if to object, but quickly shut it after a glare from James.

"Very well then," McGonagall said. "I would expect more from you as head boy, James. Two weeks detention and if I catch you fighting again you'll lose your head boy badge AND your position on the Gryffindor quidditch team." Sirius gaped.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" he asked.

"We do not tolerate physical violence at Hogwarts," McGonagall replied. She turned to Regulus. "Mr. Black—Regulus, I will leave the decision of your punishment up to Professor Slughorn. For now, off to the hospital wing to get cleaned up, all three of you. Ms. Evans, Ms. McKinnon, I suggest the two of you return to your dormitories. Goodnight."

"Can you believe him?" Lily asked Marlene angrily as they walked back towards Gryffindor tower and the Heads' dormitory.

"Who?"

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed. "Getting in a fight like that… I mean its sweet he's looking out for you, but that is NOT THE WAY TO DO IT!" Marlene shook her head.

"Lily, I was with James the whole time, and that's not what happened."

"What?"

"_Sirius _started the fight with Regulus and _James _attempted to break it up."

"But then why did they tell McGonagall it was the other way around?" Marlene shrugged.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened, but Sirius got in a right bit of trouble last year. I guess Dumbledore told him that if he put a toe out of line like that again, he would have to be expelled. I'm assuming James took the fall because he was afraid—and rightly so—that this might be enough to get Sirius expelled." By this point they were at the portrait of the fat lady.

"But-but that's a pretty serious offense for James! You heard McGonagall—now he's facing major punishment if he steps out of line!"

"I don't think that much matters, Lily. Sure James would be upset if he was kicked off the quidditch team, but it doesn't really compare to having his best friend kicked out of school. Anyway, that's the best thing about the Marauders; the personal consequences don't matter. Those guys will do anything for each other." Marlene yawned.

"I need to get to bed. Goodnight Lils." Marlene said the password to the fat lady and scrambled through the portrait hole leaving a shocked Lily behind.

**A/N: Reviews make the world go round…. And make me a better writer. So please leave one!**


	3. Chapter 3

The morning after the Slug Club party, Lily was rudely awakened by loud voices in her common room. Confused, she put a bathrobe on over her pajamas and stepped out to investigate. Lounged about on the various couches and chairs with a pile of breakfast food sat on the coffee table were Mary, Marlene, Alice, and Dorcas.

"Morning, Lils!" said Marlene through her mouth stuffed with a biscuit. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, though not nearly long enough," Lily answered pointedly. Alice giggled.

"Sorry Lily, but we all couldn't wait to talk about last night!" she informed. "And YOUR night is the one we're most eager to hear about!"

"Well Marlene could have told you about the fight," Lily said, confused. "That's more to do with her than me anyhow." Mary brushed Lily's words away.

"Marly already did tell us all about that, but what we really want to know about is you and James!"

"What about us?" Lily asked, blushing slightly.

"We all saw you dancing, Lily," Dorcas told her.

"So? We were just dancing. It didn't mean anything," Lily assured, though unconvincingly. "Don't forget, you were dancing with Peter! And you with Remus!" She gestured to Mary. Then she added to Marlene, "and YOU with _Regulus_. That had best not mean anything!"

"It means she was jealous of Sirius dancing with Emmeline," said Dorcas. "As for me, I quite enjoyed dancing with Peter, and we all know Mary and Remus are crazy about each other." Mary blushed scarlet.

"Hmph. Well it meant nothing for me and Potter."

"What about me?" James asked, crawling through the portrait hole at that moment.

"Nothing," Lily said quickly. James raised an eyebrow, then shrugged deciding he didn't much care.

"Sirius is looking for you," he told Marlene. "In the Gryffindor common room." Marlene groaned.

"Well I guess I better get this over with. How upset is he with me?" she asked James on her way out. He shrugged again in response, plopped down on the couch and grabbed a piece of toast.

"So," he grinned around at the circle of girls. "What are we gossiping about?" Marlene rolled her eyes and headed out through the portrait hole.

She found Sirius as soon as she entered the Gryffindor common room, seated in a comfy chair by the fire. He looked up from the newspaper he was reading as she walked in. She waved tentatively, and he gave a cool nod before returning to his paper. _Uh oh. _

"James said you were looking for me," she said as she strode over. "Though clearly not terribly hard." She gestured at the plushy chair and _Daily Prophet. _

"You obviously weren't here," Sirius retorted. "Obviously I had no way of knowing where you were, so I figured this would be my best bet of eventually running into you." He winked as he said this, and Marlene rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure how, but she knew that somehow the marauders had a way of knowing exactly where she—and everyone else—was at any given time.

"So," Marlene hesitated. She still wasn't sure how angry Sirius was with her—or even how angry he really had the right to be. "Looks like you healed up alright." Sirius snorted.

"It was just a few punches." Marlene nodded and an awkward silence fell over the pair.

"So I guess you want me to apologize?" Marlene asked finally, breaking the silence after what felt like several minutes but was in reality probably little more than one.

"Why would I want that?" Marlene frowned. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Because I was dancing with Regulus." Sirius shrugged.

"We aren't dating Marlene—and even if we were—you're allowed to dance with whomever you please." Marlene faltered; she knew they weren't dating, she didn't _want _to be dating, but she couldn't help but be a bit affronted by Sirius' seeming indifference towards her. After all, she had been jealous seeing him with Emmeline.

"Right." She answered, trying not to appear blasé. "So… why were you looking for me then?"

"I thought I should warn you; my brother is not someone you should become friendly with. I know he seems nice enough, and he has some redeeming qualities. But he's my mother and father's favorite son for a reason. I asked him to come with me when I left summer before last and he refused." Marlene bit her lip, remembering the letters she had received from Sirius that summer, so filled with anger and hatred towards his family, but also—beneath the surface—loneliness and despair. "He's not on our side in this war were getting into and he _will _betray you, me, and anyone else fighting against Voldemort. I guarantee it." Marlene swallowed and squirmed slightly under Sirius's steel grey gaze. She'd never seen him so serious—no pun intended.

"I think you shouldn't write him off so quickly as evil. He may surprise you yet. After all, he didn't tell that you were the one who actually started the fight," she reminded him quietly. "But, if it concerns you that much I won't speak to him anymore." Sirius let out a breath Marlene wasn't aware he'd been holding.

"Thank you," he sighed.

"Sure." A few more awkward moments passed, before Sirius rose from his seat.

"I'm gonna get some lunch before practice," he told her. "Care to join?"

"No thanks. I've just had a big breakfast."

"I'll see you on the pitch then." He kissed her cheek and walked out of the common room, leaving a slightly confused Marlene behind.

Marlene ran into Sirius again as she walked through the entrance hall on her way to practice.

"Have a good lunch?" she asked. Sirius nodded enthusiastically and the pair fell into easy conversation as they walked together, all awkwardness of the morning forgotten.

James looked comically relieved to see Marlene and Sirius arrive at the quidditch pitch together, grins on both their faces. _Honestly, that boy's obsession with the sport was borderline on healthy. _

"Alright then, McKinnon? Black?" Sirius and Marlene rolled their eyes, but nodded to their ridiculous captain. He beamed. "Great. Well in that case, I want to try out a few new plays today. I scouted out one of Ravenclaws practices last week and they looked good. We don't stand a chance against them if we don't throw something unexpected at 'em. Everyone in the air to warm up for ten minutes, then meet back down here and we'll go over the plays." Grumbling slightly, knowing it would be a long practice if James insisted on learning new plays, the team mounted their brooms and kicked off into the air.

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It was late by the time James returned to the Head's common room that night, and he was surprised to see Lily still awake, sitting before the fireplace and reading _Emma _by Jane Austen. She looked up when he entered and gave a small smile.

"You're still up?" he asked her.

"It appears so, doesn't it?" James sighed and plopped down on the sofa.

"It's well after midnight," he informed her. "So I guess I'm asking why you're still up?" Lily shrugged.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"_I _was clearly at quidditch," said James, indicating his disheveled appearance.

"And _I _am clearly reading." James rolled his eyes, realizing this was going nowhere. A silence passed between the two heads until finally, "I couldn't sleep," Lily admitted.

"Nightmares?" James asked cautiously, gazing at her with concern. Lily looked at him quizzically.

"How'd you know?"

"You were talking a bit when you fell asleep on the couch the other night. Are they bad?" Lily shuddered, remembering her most recent nightmare.

"Awful."

"Do you—erm—want to tell me what they're about?" Lily hesitated.

"I don't much want to talk about them, but um… thanks."

"'course," James said, rising from his seat to take a shower and go to bed. "Goodnight, Lily."

"Goodnight, Po—James."

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A chill ran down Lily's spine as she walked up the drive to her parents' home in Little Whinging. The sky was overcast and the neighborhood eerily quiet.

"Mum, dad, I'm home!" she called, closing the oak front door.

"Oh good, we've been expecting you." A female voice said. Lily recognized it, but it wasn't her mother or Petunia. She turned and was met with her family cowering in the living room, with the wands of three death eaters trained upon them. A fourth death eater had her wand pulled on Lily. She had a mask on, but Lily finally placed the voice as that of Bellatrix Black.

"No," Lily said, looking around the room at the death eaters and her family. "Please," she begged. "Leave them alone. They haven't done anything. It's _me _you want."

"Don't worry," said one of the death eaters in the living room, and Lily shivered. _She recognized that voice even better than the first. _The death eater raised his mask and Lily's worst suspicions were confirmed. The man behind the mask was Severus Snape, her former best friend. "I assure you, your end is coming soon."

Severus, _please," _Lily continued to beg. She looked around at everyone again. "_Please, _don't do this. I'll do _anything_." 

"_Anything?" _a third death eater asked. "I daresay the Dark Lord could find a use for her."

Severus nodded. "Join us then Lily? Your family will be spared." Lily hesitated for a long moment, while the fourth death eater grew impatient.

"Too late. You'll have to learn to be more decisive, Ms. Evans," he grumbled, and with his wand still pointed at Mrs. Evans, "Aveda Kedavra."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

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James shot out of bed when he heard Lily's scream, raced across the common room, and burst into her room, wand at the ready. He sighed with relief when he saw her room was empty and it was only one of the girl's nightmares that had elicited the blood curdling scream.

"Lily," James said gently approaching the bed. He hesitated, then placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a slight shake. "Lily," he said again, louder. Lily's eyes opened wide and she bolted upright, searching the room frantically. "Lily, it's okay. It was only a dream."

Finally Lily's eyes stopped moving so rapidly and her gaze met James'. She was still breathing heavily, but looked momentarily relieved, before bursting in to tears. James hesitated for a beat, before sitting beside Lily on the bed and wrapping his arms around her. Surprisingly, Lily didn't object to his touch and in fact buried her face in his chest, continuing to sob.

"Shhh, Lily, it was only a dream. You're alright," James comforted, gently stroking her hair.

"They killed my mum," she choked out between sobs, "and _Severus, _he—" But James didn't hear what Snape had done, as Lily buried herself into him once more.

"It wasn't real Lily. Your mum is fine."

"I know," she moaned, sobs slowly subsiding. "I know it wasn't real, but it _could _be." James didn't say anything, knowing all too well how such nightmares could stop being only dreams. "You must think I'm pathetic, crying like this over a nightmare." She looked up at him apologetically, as her sobs finally stopped. He shook his head.

"Of course not, Lily. You're one of the bravest, strongest people I know," he shrugged. "Times are dark. I'd be concerned if you weren't a little afraid." Lily nodded and gave a small, grateful smile.

"Are you scared?"

"Be crazy not to be."

"You don't seem scared," she told him, referencing all the fights he'd already gotten in that year with known Voldemort followers still at Hogwarts.

He smirked. "Well I'm glad I've got you fooled. Truth be told, I'm terrified, but I guess that's why I've got to fight. We've got to fight for the good in this world, while there is still good to be fought for."

Lily nodded slowly, shocked by the depth of James' words. "I'm sorry I got angry with you for fighting earlier this year. I guess I thought you were just being a prat and hating the Slytherins." James chuckled.

"I guess I can see why you might have thought that." Lily grinned, and James heart lept. _He was the cause of that beautiful smile. _

"I wish we could do more," Lily sighed, thoughtfully.

"Me too, but for now we should get some sleep." Lily nodded. "Goodnight Lils." He got up off her bed and walked towards the door.

"James," Lily called just as he reached the door. He turned and gazed curiously at her. She looked nervous; had the lights been on he'd have seen she was blushing.

"Would you…" she bit her lip, "would you mind staying? Just until I fall asleep?" Shocked, it took James a moment to respond.

"Sure," he finally said awkwardly. He conjured up a pillow and blanket, lying them on the floor at the foot of Lily's bed. "I'll just sleep here, shall I?" She smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you," she whispered, as James lay down and closed his eyes.

"Anytime."

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been traveling the last week and haven't had a lot of spare time. I'm starting the next chapter right now though and expect it up soon! **

**As always, reviews are much appreciated! Thanks to PrincessMoi, hpgirl394, Maraudering-around, and the two guests who have already reviewed! **


	4. Chapter 4

Every eye in the Great Hall followed Lily and James as they walked in to breakfast together the following morning. Totally oblivious, the pair slid into seats next to one another at the Gryffindor table, among the Marauders, Mary, Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice.

"Juice?" James offered to Lily, after pouring himself a glass.

"Please," Lily nodded, and James filled her cup as well. Setting down the orange juice, James made to grab for the plate of toast, but before he could stretch to reach it, Lily passed it to him.

"Thanks."

"Of course," Lily responded with a smile. Their breakfast companions were now openly gaping at the friends. Spotting the newspaper Mary had set aside before the heads' arrival, "Oh, are you finished with that?" Lily asked. "May I?" Without waiting for a response, she reached across the table to grab it. Only then did she look up at her fellow Gryffindors to see their astonished faces.

"What's everyone staring at?" she asked, causing James to glance up from his breakfast as well. Alice was the first to regain composure.

"Oh I don't know, maybe you and James acting like… acting like...!" Lily and James raised their eyebrows.

"Well you are always telling me to give him a chance, and we've been friendly most of the year so far. We did even dance together at Slughorn's party," she reminded.

"Yes, but this is different," Mary jumped in. "You're actually _choosing _to be near each other, and without the influence of alcohol." James smirked and put his arm around Lily's shoulders,

"She was bound to come around sooner or later." He grinned, though his face fell slightly when Lily shook his arm off.

"Let's not get carried away," she said. "Potter and I have come to an understanding, but that's it." James looked momentarily wounded by the use of his last name, but no one seemed to notice, save from perhaps Remus and Sirius.

Lily unfolded the paper, revealing the front page story covering numerous muggle attacks. After a quick glance, she folded the paper back up, deciding it may be best not to read.

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That night, James returned from quidditch practice rather late once again. When he entered, he was relieved to see Lily was sleeping, albeit on the sofa with a book on her chest. He picked the book up, marked the page she was on, and set it on the coffee table. He conjured a blanket to cover her with, whispered goodnight, then went to his own dorm to sleep.

A few hours later, he was woken once more by Lily's scream. A little less panicked this time, he rushed out to the common room to wake the red headed girl from her nightmare.

"Lily!" James shook her gently from her sleep. She shook uncontrollably after realizing her nightmare had been just that, but didn't cry this time. "You alright?"

"No," she admitted, still shaking slightly. "Not really." She sat up a bit to make room for James to slide in behind her, then leaned against him, his arms wrapped around her.

"What was it this time?" Lily sighed deeply. "You don't have to tell me if you don—"

"We were at this park—Petunia, my sister, and me—this park we used to play at as kids. Severus was there too. We were all kids again, but then he—he attacked her, with this spell he made up a few years back."

"Snape invents spells… to attack people?"

Lily nodded. "He actually wanted to use it on you and Sirius." James gaped at her.

"Blimey, Lily! How were you ever friends with that guy?" She shook her head.

"He has his redeeming qualities… and moments," she defended. "Or he used to anyway. And obviously he _didn't _end up using that spell on you right?" James sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Listen Lily, as much as I hate the guy, you're right about his redeeming qualities. Or _one _quality in particular anyway; it's very obvious that he always has—and still does—care a lot about you. I'm not saying I think you should forgive him for fifth year and be friends again, but I don't think he would _ever _hurt you or your family."

"He might hurt Tuney," she told him. "They _hated _each other." James raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why didn't he attack Sirius and me with that spell?"

"Because I asked him not to—" James' eyebrow lifted further. "Oh… Ok, I know you're right. I guess I'm just afraid of what he's becoming—for his sake as much as anyone elses." Lily felt James arms tighten slightly around her as she said this.

"You're incredible," he told her quietly. She turned to him, surprised—that wasn't quite the reaction she expected after telling James she still cared some for Severus.

"Well thank you," she said, "but why do you say that?"

"Just that you care about him and worry for him even after—what he did." James shrugged. "You're always thinking of others, and it's something I've always admired about you." Lily blushed.

"I suppose I could say the same for you," she admitted. "Well, other than the always admiring part. I haven't really noticed it before."

"What do you mean?"

"Marlene told me what really happened at Slughorn's party, and _why _you said it was you."

"Oh, that. Well I wouldn't do that for just anyone. But this place would be awful boring without Sirius."

"What did he do that almost got him kicked out?" Lily asked. James frowned.

"I can't really tell you, Lily," he answered after a minute. "But it was bad. He deserved to be kicked out—Dumbledore probably would have expelled him if he hadn't known how bad Sirius had it at home. Someone could have died—that's how bad it was. We didn't talk to him for weeks." Lily assumed by we, he meant himself, Remus, and Peter. She thought back to their fifth year and remembered a period when the Marauders had seemed to have had quite a tiff. Sirius had been in a right state the entire time, and nearly driven Marlene mad. James yawned loudly breaking Lily from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry for waking you again," she said softly, apologetically.

"'s alright. I think I'm going to go to sleep now though if you don't mind."

"Of course." Lily leaned forward to let him move from the couch. Once he was standing, he looked at her hesitantly.

"Right, well if you want I can sleep here," he gestured towards the arm chair, "and you sleep on the sofa?" Lily smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks."

"'s'no problem," James said, quickly dozing off.

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"What's your favourite colour?" Lily asked James out of the blue the following evening as they made their rounds of the castle.

"What?" James asked, chuckling slightly. "Why do you ask that?"

"Well I just thought if we're going to be spending so much time together this year, we might as well get to know each other a little better. And I'm getting a bit bored with this silence," Lily confessed. James was laughing harder now.

"You know, you are one hard witch to please, Lily." She huffed. "Not a week ago on these rounds you were begging me not to talk to you." Lily blushed.

"Yes, well I've changed my mind," she said indignantly. "But if you'd rather be in silence we don't _have _to get to know each other." He chuckled a bit more and then:

"Red."

"Hmm?"

"My favourite color… it's red. Yours is green," he told her.

"I know my own favorite colour! How do y_ou _know?"

"I don't know? I pay attention to you I guess…"

"Creepy, Potter."

"Hey!" he said, pretending to look hurt. She laughed.

"Alright then mister expert, what else do you know about me?"

"Absolutely nothing." Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well now that you've implied I'm some sort of _stalker!" _

"So sensitive, Potter!" said Lily, still laughing. "Fine let's try this… what's my favourite… class?"

James rolled his eyes. "Easy. Potions."

"Fine, but yours is Transfiguration." James smirked.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well you're brilliant at, I guess."

"Was that a complement, Evans?" She groaned. He laughed.

"Don't let it go to your head. Anyway, am I right?"

"I do like transfiguration," James admitted. "But actually my _favourite w_ould be Care of Magical Creatures."

"Hmph.. I wouldn't 've guessed that."

"I know; you _didn't _guess it, remember?"he reminded her with a wink. "Face it Lily, I'm just a mystery to you." She rolled her eyes.

"I know the important things!"

"Like what?"

"Well like you love quidditch…"

"Everyone knows that."

"And… you're an only child… right?"

"Most people know that too, but yes that's true; although technically my parents basically adopted Sirius."

"Really? Why?" Lily cringed at the thought of James' poor parents having to deal with both boys every Holiday.

"Well it's no secret Sirius doesn't get on well with his family," James shrugged. "He finally got fed up with it summer after fifth year, and my parents were more than happy to take him in."

"Wow," Lily smiled. "That's incredibly nice of them. They must be great people." James nodded.

"Anyway," he said, changing the subject, "you still have yet to come up with anything you know about me that the majority of Hogwarts does not."

"Well the things you've known about me haven't been that secretive either!" James raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you seriously implying that I don't know you better than any old bloke in this castle?"

"Well no better than I know you, anyway… or at least not much better," she laughed. "How could you? I've barely spoken to you before this year, except to tell you what an arrogant, bullying toe rag you are!"

He stared at her for a moment, before speaking quietly. "You have one older sister, named Petunia. You used to be best friends, but ever since you came to Hogwarts you haven't got on so well. You pretend it doesn't bother you much, but every time you go home you hope things will be different. Severus Snape was your best friend from before first year until fifth, but now it's Marlene, although Mary is a _very _close second. You actually read all of the assigned readings before class and know the answer to probably every question a teacher has ever asked, because you're afraid of being labeled a know-it-all after Randall MacMillan called you one in first year. You _hate _vegetables, but eat them at every meal anyway because they're good for you. You bite your nails or twirl your hair when you're nervous. You want people to believe you're a rule follower, but secretly you go out after hours quite often, sometimes even venturing out onto the grounds…" James paused. "Shall I continue?"

"I don't think that will be necessary." Lily stared at him. She wasn't sure what to make of what he'd just revealed. Part of her felt like it was kind of creepy how much he knew when they'd never been close, but a bigger part was slightly… touched by the fact he paid so much attention. "Seriously how do you know about that?"

"I told you Lily, I pay attention," he smiled at her, almost a little embarrassed. "I've been trying to figure out how to get you to go out with me for going on three years now, and I've learned a fair bit in that time."

"Well for the record, you had one thing wrong; Mary is not _second _to Marly. They're both my best friends and I love them equally."

"If you were getting married tomorrow, who'd be your maid of honour?" Lily didn't answer, but blushed slightly. James smirked.

"Well if y_ou _were getting married tomorrow, who'd be your best man?"

"Sirius," James said without missing a beat. Lily sighed, defeated. "So I win then?"

"What? Win what exactly?"

"I know you better than you know me!"

"It wasn't a contest Potter."

"But if it was, I'd've won." Lily rolled her eyes, and, having just reached it and muttered the password, pushed open the portrait to their common room.

"You didn't give me a chance to say my side." James gestured for her to proceed, flopping into the arm chair in which he'd slept the previous night. Lily took her seat on the couch, pondering.

"Well I haven't got quite as much to say as you had," Lily began, slowly. "You mess up your hair sometimes because you _do _think it looks cool to have just gotten off you're broomstick, but also sometimes when you're nervous or stressed. You go to the astronomy towers when you're sad and you fly when you're angry. And," she paused. "You're the most astoundingly loyal friend I've ever known or even heard of."

"And how do you know all that?"

"You're not the only one who notices things, James." And with that, she turned off the lights, pulling the blanket James had conjured the previous night over her. She smiled to herself, glad that James couldn't see, when he settled into the arm chair rather than going to his dorm to sleep.

"Goodnight, Evans."

"Goodnight, _James." _And for the first time in months, Lily slept soundly through the night.

**A/N: Please leave a review! They really are SO helpful as a motivator and if you have any constructive criticism or advice to offer! **

**The next chapter will include a trip to Hogsmeade! And the next two chapters will contain a bit more drama. Actually after this chapter, things should really pick up. So review and help me right them faster and better! :D Thanks! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: First off, I am embarrassed by my author's note in the previous chapter… write not right.. wow. Obviously I was rushing to get the chapter up for y'all **

**Second, I'm quite disappointed by the number of reviews on the 3****rd**** and 4****th**** chapters. I really don't have much experience writing fanfiction or any fiction at all really, so any tips are extremely helpful and even just hearing if you like the story or if there is something you don't like is great. Sooo PLEASE review! **

**Third, there is some swearing in this chapter… two words to be exact. Actually, one word… but twice. You've been warned**

**Finally, ENJOY! **

Lily and James' sleeping arrangement remained the same for the next several weeks, and while Lily's nightmares were not completely eradicated, both found they slept better in the same room. Personally, James felt their sleep could be further improved if they were to share a bed, but he was sure Lily would never go for it and didn't want to ruin his budding friendship with his red-haired counterpart.

When James woke on the Saturday morning of the first Hogsmeade visit, he was surprised to see Lily already dressed and lounging on the couch with a book—he was usually up earlier than she on the weekends.

"Morning," he said sleepily. She turned from her book with a soft smile.

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Great," he answered. And then, hoping another nightmare wasn't the reason she was up so early, "you?"

"Wonderful." She seemed sincere about it, James noted with relief.

"Oh, good. Why're you up so early? I was afraid it was maybe because you couldn't sleep—". He was cut off by Lily's giggling.

"It's half past ten already James," she informed. "I was just thinking of waking you for Hogsmeade. We're all planning to go at 11." James stared at her incredulously. _Half past ten?! _ He'd woken up by seven at the _latest_ every other Saturday of the term. It was a good thing he'd forgone the typical morning quidditch practice and scheduled and evening one that day so everyone could enjoy Hogsmeade.

"I guess I'd better get ready then, hadn't I?" Lily nodded.

"I brought you some sausage and toast from breakfast," she told him nodding towards the counter on the other side of the room.

"Thanks," James beamed before hurrying off to shower.

By ten to eleven he was ready to go and he and Lily walked down to the entrance hall together. There, they were met by the remaining Marauders, Marlene, Mary, Alice, and Dorcas.

"Frank's meeting me at Madam Puddifoot's!" Alice excitedly told the girls as the group walked from the castle. Marlene rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Madam Puddifoot's Alice, _really_? Gag."

"It's _romantic!" _Alice insisted.

"I rather like it," Mary agreed. "What do you think Remus?"

"Erm… I've never been," he admitted.

"Me neither," Peter squeaked, with a glance at Dorcas.

"Well you're all welcome to join us," Alice said sincerely. "I'm sure Frank would love to see you."

"Ha, not me!" Marlene scoffed, though clearly amused by the idea of herself and Sirius at the tacky tea house.

"I'll pass as well," Lily seconded. "But thank you for the offer Alice, and do tell Frank we say hello please," she added politely with a pointed look at Marlene.

"Yeah, yeah, same from me," Marlene waved Lily off.

"Well I'll go," Mary said, blushing slightly, "That is—Remus—would you—would you maybe want to go?" Remus hesitated, but feeling all eyes on him, shrugged.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," he said, with a small smile at Mary.

"Well in that case," said Dorcas, "Peter?" Peter grinned and nodded.

"That sounds great!" By this point, the teens had reached Hogsmeade, and Mary, Remus, Dorcas, Peter, and Alice split off from the other four to go to Madam Puddifoot's.

"Well, I guess it's just the four of us then," said Lily. "Fancy a drink from The Three Broomsticks?"

"Actually," Sirius said, with a glance at Marlene, "I kind of wanted to show Marly something. You know… alone?" Marlene looked surprised by this, but quite pleased.

"Oh… ok. Well see you then." She barely had the words out before Sirius had grabbed Marlene's hand and was dragging her off away from the town.

"Bye!" she called. "You two have fun!" Lily waved, watching them for a moment, before turning back to James, who was wearing a face-splitting grin.

"Sooo," he said casually, "Three Broomsticks, then?" Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly.

"Finee," she groaned, as she began marching down the path, with James practically skipping along beside her. When they arrived at the pub, James opened the door and held it for Lily to enter first. Again, she rolled her eyes at him, but stepped in anyway. The place was crowded, but they managed to find one small open table in the corner.

When they reached the table, James pulled out a chair, offering it to Lily. She shook her head.

"I need to use the loo," she informed him. He took his own seat as she walked away.

"Are you seriously here with _Potter?_" Lily heard, just as she was about to open the door to the girl's loo. She turned to see her ex-best friend sneering at her.

"I really don't think that's any of your concern Severus," she responded icily. Snape frowned.

"What happened to him being an arrogant toe-rag?"

"He's changed…" Lily admitted. Snape snorted.

"Don't kid yourself Lily. I know it was only a matter of time before you fell for his so-called _charm_." He was back to sneering. Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's not like that Severus. And so what if it was? At least he would never call me what _you _did," Lily paused, letting the memory of that spring day in their fifth year resonate between them. "Please don't speak to me again." With that, she pushed open the door and disappeared into the restroom.

Leaning back against the closed door, Lily struggled to regain her composure. It took several moments for her to realize she was not alone. Anastasia Parkinson, a slytherin seventh year, stood by the mirror, studying Lily in its reflection.

"Is it true then?" Anastasia asked, after realizing Lily had noticed her. Her tone was unkind and demanding.

"That you're dating Potter?" Lily looked at her questioningly. "I overheard Snape." Lily sighed.

"Does it matter?" Anastasia laughed cruelly.

"Oh how naïve you are. You, Lily Evans, are a mudblood and therefore marked for dead by the Dark Lord. It's only a matter of time." Lily's fist clenched around her wand at the word mudblood, but she simply glared at Anastasia, waiting for her to continue. "Snape, for some idiotic reason, obviously cares for you and wishes to protect you. You are undeniably talented and Snape believes, and I happen to agree, you could be of great use to us." Lily scoffed, but Anastasia plowed on.

"With us, you could live without fear. The Dark Lord would spare you, and your family. But stick with Potter and his gang, and you remain a target. They can't protect you forever."

"And what if I don't _need _to be protected? What if I prefer to look out for myself?" Anastasia smirked.

"Then you're a fool." Lily stared, dumbfound for a moment, then turned without a word and left the bathroom, forgetting her need to go there in the first place. Needless to say she was fuming by the time she returned to the table she was sharing with James.

"What is this?" she asked, pointing to the mug sitting before her chair, as James jumped up to pull it out for her.

"Cider," he told her. "Your favourite, isn't it?" Lily rolled her eyes; yet another thing he mysteriously knew about her.

"I _mean_, what is it doing here?"

"I ordered it for you," he answered nervously. "I just thought… it's so busy… I wasn't sure when the waitress would be back. You can have my butterbeer," he offered. "I haven't had any yet—I was waiting. Or we can call the waitress back if you—". He tried to get the waitresses attention.

"I can order for myself _Potter," _Lily hissed. "I'd like to go now." He stared blankly at her for a moment, then:

"Right… Ok," he said slowly. "Let me just pay for the drinks."

"I can also _pay _for myself."

"Right… I just thought—well since you didn't even drink—"

"_Neither did you," _Lily reminded him. "Look Potter, this isn't a _bloody date! _You don't need to pay for me and I certainly don't want you ordering for me!" She slammed several knuts down on the table, and turned towards the door, making to leave.

"Wait," James called, also fishing several knuts from his pockets and placing them on the table. "At least let me walk you out." Lily whirled around to face him again.

"Just what are you playing at? Getting your friends to go to Madam Puddifoot's and who knows where so that I'm forced to go alone somewhere with you? Then making it even more like a date by ordering for me, trying to pay, and pretending to be a gentleman? You're not fooling anyone! I've known you since we were eleven and you couldn't be less of gentleman if you were raised in a barn! But it's not your fault of course; how could you be expected to have manners when you were raised with a wealthy, pureblood sense of entitlement?!" James glare was murderous, but Lily didn't back down.

"If you're quite finished," James began cooly, after what felt like several minutes, "I'll walk you back to the gate." Lily opened her mouth to object, but James cut her off. "It's not safe to go alone right now, and despite what a _bitch_ you're being, I couldn't forgive myself if I let something happen. I'll walk ten meters behind if you prefer, but you are _not _walking alone." Deciding not to argue—it would be safer to not walk alone, especially with the look some of the Slytherins were giving her from across the room—Lily stomped out and towards the castle, with James trailing behind.

When she reached the gate, James turned towards the shrieking shack without a word or even so much as a backwards glance.

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Sirius and Marlene's afternoon was going entirely differently from their much more volatile best friends. After splitting from the others, Sirius had led Marlene to the shrieking shack.

"This is what you wanted to show me Siri?" she giggled. "Thanks, but I've seen it many times." Sirius rolled his eyes, but grinned.

"Of course not, but its hidden _inside. _Let me just go grab it." Marlene wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Can't I come in with you?" she asked with a wink.

He chuckled at her. "Crazy girl! Don't you know it's haunted?" Now it was her turn to laugh.

"Well clearly you aren't afraid to go in! And besides, I happen to be quite certain it's not haunted!"

"Oh?" asked Sirius, amused. "And pray tell, what do you suppose it is then that the villagers hear at night?"

Marlene hesitated, then: "a werewolf." Sirius felt the blood drain from his face as he gaped at her, but fortunately she didn't seem to notice.

"And how do you know that?" he asked finally.

"I saw Pomfrey bring someone out to the whomping willow second year from my window. If you prod a knot on the roots with a long stick, it freezes the branches. I tried it the next day and there was a passage that led to the _inside _of the shack. All the furniture was chewed and clawed—as I'm sure you've seen, and I remembered it had been a full moon and I had heard howling, and I guess I just put it all together."

"Do you know who it was?"

"Does it matter?" Marlene asked, slightly taken aback that Sirius might not be accepting of their werewolf peer.

"Of course not!" Sirius insisted. "I'll bet whoever it is, is a right cool bloke. I was just curious…" Marlene giggled again.

"What makes you so sure it's a he?"

"Just a guess," Sirius answered with a mischevious smirk. "Anyway, have you got any idea who it might be?"

Marlene hesitated again, looking like she was debating whether to tell something. "No," she said finally. "I haven't paid much attention honestly. Obviously whoever it is doesn't want everyone to know, and who am I to be snooping around? Anyway, it makes no difference to me, so why bother?" Sirius nodded.

"Well," he said, his grin from before returned, "now that it's settled the place _isn't _haunted, come with me then." He grabbed her hand again, and led her round to the back door. After a quick detour up to one of the bedrooms, Sirius led her back to the main room, stopping in front of an oddly shaped object covered by a sheet.

"Tada!" he said, whipping off the sheet to reveal a shiny muggle motorbike.

"What is it?"

"A motorbike! It's a muggle device, used for transportation."

"What are_ you _doing with a motorbike?" Marlene asked, chuckling.

"Having fun of course! I just got it a few weeks ago. Want to go for a ride?"

"Can I?!" Sirius laughed.

"I wouldn't have asked if you couldn't. He wheeled the motorbike outside to the road and climbed on. "Jump on," he said, scooting forward slightly so there was room for the girl behind him. "And hold on tight." Once Marlene was on, arms tightly wrapped around his waist, Sirius gently squeezed the throttle, and the bike leapt forward. As they picked up speed, the bike began rising slowly into the air. Realizing this, Marlene squealed, her arms tightening even more around Sirius, but as the bike leveled out at a couple thousand feet, she relaxed.

"WOOOOO!" she cheered, removing her arms from Sirius' waist and lifting them in the air like a muggle on a roller coaster. Sirius laughed, but gripped her knee with his left hand. He might be a bit reckless when it came to himself, but after the incident with Remus in fifth year, he'd learned to be a bit more cautious with those he cared about.

They cruised over the countryside for a while, with Sirius pointing out various things, like a cave he'd found riding earlier that week. When they finally arrived back at the shack, Marlene was still on cloud nine.

"Can I drive now?" she asked excitedly.

"Next time," he promised, pointing out James, coming up the path. "Alright mate?" he called. As James grew closer it became clear he was in fact, not alright.

"What's wrong Jamie?" Marlene asked, leading her oldest friend to sit on a stoop by the house, and wrapping her arm around his shoulders as she knelt beside him.

"Lily." Marlene and Sirius both groaned.

"What happened mate?" Sirius asked. James proceeded to relay the details of his afternoon.

"What a _bitch_," was Sirius' immediate response. James nodded, and they both looked to Marlene for her opinion.

"Well she was definitely way out of line," Marlene said slowly, "but she's my friend and I'm not going to sit here and bash her with you if that's what you're hoping for." Sirius looked appalled, but James seemed to understand. "I think I'll head back to the castle as well." She added, recognizing that, though she and James were close, it was really Sirius he needed at that moment.

"We'll walk you," James said, starting to rise.

"Not necessary," Marlene grinned. "You're not the only one who knows the secret passages of Hogwarts, Potter." She gave both boys a quick hug and kiss—James on the cheek—and walked into the shack. James gaped after her.

"How does she—". Sirius shook his head.

"Later. Right now I've got something I think will cheer you up," he said, tossing James the keys to the motorbike. James caught them with a grin, and raced Sirius to the bike.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please, please, please review! It only takes a minute!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N So this chapter isn't very long and I'm not terribly pleased with it, but I haven't updated in a while and I wanted to give you all something! Anyway, some more language in this chapter. Enjoy! **

Lily didn't see James for the rest of the weekend, and when she finally did see him on Sunday evening, it was only long enough for him to inform her he would be doing patrols alone.

"James—" Lily began after he told her, but she stopped herself. What was she going to say? 'I'm sorry'? Fat chance. She was far too stubborn for that and after all she hadn't been the only one in the wrong, at least not from her perspective. Judging by the look on James' face however, nothing less than an apology—and maybe not even that—were going to change his mind about the patrols that evening. James had paused at the portrait hole when he heard his name, but upon realizing Lily had nothing really to say, he rolled his eyes and continued out of their common room.

When he returned later that night, it was to find Lily had fallen asleep in her usual spot on the couch. Her sleep already appeared to be restless, but James was still too upset by what had happened in Hogsmeade to consider it his problem. He continued past her into his own room for the night, and remained there even when he was awoken by Lily's scream a few hours later.

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By the time the first quidditch match of the year rolled around (Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff), three weeks had passed since Lily and James had even spoken. Their last conversation—if it could really be called that—was to agree as to which patrol nights each would take, as it became clear after that first night they would not be doing them together.

Lily was sleeping poorly again, having returned to sleeping in her own room again after that Sunday when James had left her alone in the common room and not even come to comfort her when she'd woken terrified.

_Not that she should expect him to, _she reminded herself, thinking of the horrible things she had said a few weeks earlier. She was the only Gryffindor in the Great Hall, having gotten up at 5am on a Saturday morning, finally giving up on sleep. At quarter of six, some of Lily's housemates began trickling in, namely, the members of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

James, of course, was the first. When he entered and saw that Lily was the only person at the Gryffindor table, he nearly turned and ran back out to wait for one of his teammates, but realizing that she had seen him, he continued walking towards the table and sat down across from her.

"Morning," he grumbled. "You're up early."

"Couldn't sleep," she responded with a soft smile, which James did not return. An awkward silence fell between them, then, "Ready for the match today?"

He shrugged. "We should have no problem getting shots past Bones," he began, referring to Hufflepuff's Keeper, "and Wood's brilliant, so there should be no problems there. But Hestia Jones is a quick seeker, while Abbot is new, so…" he trailed off.

Lily didn't really know what to say; she wasn't the biggest follower of quidditch, and James didn't really seem like he wanted to talk, so they fell silent again. Fortunately they were soon joined by Sirius and Marlene, who were beater and chaser for the team, respectively. Madison Abbot was next, she was a small fifth year who had been recruited to play seeker just that year. She was clearly nervous for her first game, but Sirius, James, and Marly all assured he she'd be great.

Jonathon Brown, Sirius' fellow beater, came next, followed quickly by Emmeline Vance—a chaser—and finally Ellie Wood, Gryffindor's keeper.

"Blimey, James," Ellie grumbled as she sat down, "do you not realize it's barely six-o-clock-in-the-fucking-morning!? The match isn't until 10!"

"Now, now Wood, is that anyway to speak to our captain?" Sirius joked. "I'm sure James has a very good reason for waking us up so early." He gestured to James, mockingly, to tell them what exactly he had woken them up for.

"We've got plays to go over," James muttered, causing half the table to gape at him, Sirius included. "And besides, I know how you lot eat. I want your brooms to actually be able to lift you off the round by the time 10 'o clock rolls around!" Lily tittered softly while the others grumbled amongst themselves. James flashed her a quick smile, before he seemed to remember he was supposed to be upset with her and returned to scowl at his team. "Eat up, I want you all in the locker room in 20," he said before standing an exiting the Hall.

"Good luck!" Lily called after him. He turned and gave a slight nod of gratitude before continuing on his way. Lily turned back to her plate, looking crestfallen.

"He'll come around," Marlene said sympathetically. Sirius snorted.

"Like hell he will! Not if I have anything to say about it." He addressed Lily, "Evans, you need to apologize. You were way out of line."

"But he—"

"No. He didn't do anything wrong. For the record, he had no _idea _I was planning to keep Marlin to myself that day. He was pleased as punch that he got to spend the afternoon alone with you, sure, but he didn't plan it. And he wasn't trying to make it a date as you claim, he was just trying to show you he could be a nice guy—is a nice guy!"

Lily huffed. "Well I'm not apologizing unless he does. Maybe he didn't tell you, but he called me—"

"A bitch?" Sirius scoffed. "He told me, and he feels bad about it, but you know what? I think you deserved it. You were being a bitch, Evans!" Lily looked as though she'd been slapped in the face.

"Sirius!" Marlene scolded, causing Sirius to gape at her.

"You can't really be on her side?!" he growled.

"No!" Lily looked like she might cry, so Marlene quickly continued. "I'm not on anyone's side! Lil, you were _way_ out of line and should apologize, but Siri you don't know the whole story and you shouldn't be so harsh!" Lily had told Marlene about her conversations with Snape and Anastasia after Marlene returned from Hogsmeade.

"Whatever," Sirius grumbled, "I'll see you down at the pitch."

"Oh wait up, Sirius! There's no need to be upset with me." She glanced at Lily. "Alright?" Lily nodded and Marlene followed Sirius out of the hall.

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Gryffindor won the match, 270-250, which of course resulted in a party in the common room later that night. James, Marly, and Emmeline were the center of attention at the party as they had managed to score enough points to offset the fact that Hestia Jones actually caught the snitch.

Midway through the party, Lily watched as James comforted little Madison Abbot on the fact that she hadn't caught the snitch in her first game.

"Jones is a great seeker," he was saying. "Even Fabian (the old Gryffindor seeker) would've had a tough time against her. You did great, honestly. I wouldn't want anyone else as seeker for this team." Lily smiled, James really could be sweet. Maybe she had been too quick to assume he'd had ulterior motives in Hogsmeade. She sighed, Sirius was right, she really had been a bit of a bitch. _She should probably apologize. _Lily rose, intending to do just that, when she noticed James was no longer talking to Madison. Instead, the girl was wrapped in his arms, with his tongue down her throat. Lily's heart sank, and she felt her blood start to boil. She marched right past James, and over to Jonathon Wood, whom she knew had had a crush on her for at least a year. She grabbed his by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a deep kiss, which he quickly responded to, all the while assuring herself she was upset that James would snog the poor girl while he claimed to be crazy about Lily. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was jealous or hurt, because she was, in fact, neither of those things.

Marlene and Sirius watched the entire scene between James and Lily (and Madison and Jonathon) play out from their comfy seat on the couch. After watching Lily and Jonathon snog for a moment, Marlene surveyed the room with mild amusement.

"You know," she said to Sirius, "I think for once in our lives' were the only two in here over the age of 15 keeping our hormones in check." Sirius glanced around quickly and found her statement to be quite true; even Peter had Dorcas on his lap in the chair adjacent to Sirius and Marlene, and their lips were indeed locked. Sirius jumped up in feigned panic.

"This requires immediate correction," he told Marlene, offering his hand to pull her up. She giggled.

"Maybe I find this a nice change of pace," she joked, but accepted his extended hand.

"Not a chance," he grinned, leading her up the stairs to the 7th year boys dormitory. "You can't resist my charm."

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_Earlier_

"Good match, eh?" Mary said, sitting down by the fireplace next to Remus as the party got underway.

"One of the best I've seen," Remus grinned.

"Do you watch a lot of quidditch?" Remus nodded.

"Quite a bit actually. I absolutely love it. It's how I became friends with Sirius and James way back when. We bonded over our grief that first year's weren't allowed brooms," he grinned. Mary laughed, and it was a beautiful tinkling sound, Remus thought.

"I was pretty upset about that too," she agreed. "My whole idea of witches was based on riding around on broomsticks! But then we had our first flying lesson and I realized I _hated _it. I'm afraid of heights," she admitted. Remus smiled, he remembered Mary at their first flying lessons being the most excited of all the muggleborns to try it. He also remembered the look on her face when her broom hovered five feet off the ground; pure terror.

"I remember that," he told her, chuckling softly. Mary blushed.

"Anyway, I still think flying is impressive though. And I love watching quidditch. I used to play football in primary school, and I wish I could play quidditch." She smiled wistfully and shrugged. "Not cut out for it. How about you, do you play at all?" When Remus took a second to answer, she smacked herself on the forehead. "Football is—" she quickly started to explain the muggle sport, causing Remus to laugh.

"I know what football is," he assured. "My mum is muggleborn and I went to a muggle primary school. I play quidditch over holidays with the guys, and I'm an alright keeper," he admitted, modestly. "I don't know that I'd make the team, but I've never tried because… well I'm just too busy with school and prefect duties, I guess." Mary nodded, seeming to accept his feeble excuse.

"I'll bet you're a brilliant keeper," she said quietly, causing both of them to blush.

"Er—thanks." She smiled up at him, cheeks still tinged lightly pink behind her layer of freckles, with a bit of curly brown hair over her deep blue eyes. Without thinking, Remus reached out and brushed the hair away from her face, his hand lingering for a moment, then he leaned down and kissed her. His arms fell around her waist, while she reached up and tangled one hand in here hair. A random 6th year wolf-whistled from across the room, causing the two to spring apart. Remus shot a glare in that general direction, then turned back to Mary.

"You want to find a place a little more… erm… private?" he asked, shyly. Mary grinned and nodded, lacing her fingers in Remus'.

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Marlene and Sirius had just recovered from their laughter in the common room when they reached the top of the stairs, and burst into Sirius' dormitory. The scene before them when they entered sent both into another fit of giggles.

"Mary?! Remus?!" Marlene burst out, catching site of the pair seated on Remus' bed.

"Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, excitedly, bounding over to the two. "Good for you, mate! Be good to him now, MacDonald," he continued, causing both teens to blush.

"Sirius! Leave them alone!" Marlene called, recovering from her shock.

"Right, carry on then!" he winked, grabbing Marlene by the arm and pulling her arm as they both started to laugh. "I know a different place for us," he whispered, wiggling his eyebrows.

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**

**Too be continued…**

**Hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning. **

**We'll see, I haven't felt very motivated lately, unfortunately, but I'll do my best. Sorry so short, but like I said more to follow soon (I think!) Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Sorry this wasn't up sooner. I ended up going to a football (American, that is) game and the bar tonight/Friday night, but I was so excited to see the reviews when I got home that I decided to update right away even if it is absurdly late! (So keep 'em coming!) Technically it's not really "tonight" but now you'll all have a present waiting when you get up! Please excuse any spelling/grammatical errors as I am extremely tired and maybe even still a bit tipsy . **

**Anyway, there are some curse words in this again, and you may have noticed, I changed the rating to M for a sex scene I got a **_**little **_**bit carried away on. I blame the booze. Anyway, enjoy if you're into this sort of thing, or if not, sorry, but no worries; you can always just scroll past it! Nothing important in that part really. **

Marlene and Sirius were still laughing when they stopped before a seemingly blank wall. Sirius released Marlene's hand and began pacing back and forth, while she continued to giggle.

"Siri, what are you doing?" she asked through her giggles, just as a giant door appeared before her eyes.

"Tada!" he announced, gesturing at the door, and making Marlene laugh harder. He grabbed her hand again as he pushed the door open and led her inside. Marlene's laughter subsided and she gasped as she stepped into the room. Inside was a fireplace, with a crackling fire already lit, with cozy looking chairs and a giant rug in front of it. On the other side of the room was a giant sleigh bed. It was dimly lit, and in Marlene's opinion, the most romantic place she'd ever seen.

"Wow," she breathed. "I can't believe they have a room like this… at _school_." Suddenly, she frowned. "How did you know about this place?"

"Stumbled upon it," Sirius replied. "I've been coming here for years." When Marlene looked disgusted, he laughed and quickly continued: "It doesn't always look like this. It can be whatever you want it to be."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, all you have to do is think three times about what you want, and it will be here."

"Anything?" Marlene asked in awe.

"Anything." He laughed again as a table and chairs appeared; a large piece of strawberry covered cheesecake sat upon the table.

"This is bloody brilliant!" Marlene grinned as she took a seat at the table and grabbed a fork. Sirius took the seat across from her, also grabbing his fork.

"Oi!" exclaimed Marlene just as he was about to have a bite. "Who said I was sharing?"

"Without me you wouldn't have any to begin with!" he reminded her, grinning.

"Oh alright then, but just a couple bites!" she winked. Sirius laughed, his infamous bark-like laugh, which Marlene so loved.

When the cake was gone, the two rose from the table and it, along with the chairs, disappeared.

"Amazing," Marlene muttered. "So is this how you usually get all the birds?" she asked playfully. "Just take them here and they can't resist you?" He chuckled again.

"You know I don't need any help getting birds, Marlin," he joked back. "I'm always irresistible." Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though," she said. "Is this like your special place or something?" He snorted.

"Honestly, Marls, if it was, don't you think I would have taken you here by now?" She shrugged. "Well, I would have," he continued, "but no it's not my 'special place', at least not in the way that you're thinking."

"So you've never brought any other girl here?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"I've never brought any other person here," he said sincerely, his eyes filled with meaning. "I found it back in fourth year, and I liked having a place I could go sometime and just be alone and think, I guess," he explained.

"You've never shown _anyone_ else?"

"Nope."

"Not even James?"

"Not even James."

"But you're showing me? Why?" He sighed.

"I don't know, we needed a place and this is what I thought of. And I guess I thought maybe I wouldn't mind sharing it with you." He smiled in a way that, had it not been Sirius Black, Marlene would have described as shyly. She grinned back, moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I must be pretty special," she joked, as his arms looped around her waist.

"You're very special," he told her, leaning down and kissing her softly. She gently pulled him down further, deepening their kiss. After a few seconds, Celestina Warbeck's "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love_" _started to play, and Marlene groaned, breaking their kiss. 

"Interesting song choice, Marlin," Sirius smirked.

"I didn't pick the song! I just asked for music!"

"Let me try," Sirius said, with a chuckle.

"Sirius!" Marlene exclaimed, exasperated but grinning, as a heavy metal song replaced the romantic balled.

"Alright, alright," he raised his arms in mock defense, "let me try again." He snaked his arms back around her waist as the song "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton started playing. Her arms returned to their place around his neck and he pulled her tighter, starting to sway.

"What is this?" Marlene asked. Sirius dipped her before he answered.

"It's by a muggle called Eric Clapton. Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful." Marlene blushed and pulled Sirius into another kiss to hide her pink cheeks. They stopped dancing as Marlene stepped backwards toward the bed, leading Sirius with her. She grabbed the bottom hem of his t-shirt as they moved, tugging it up and breaking their kiss momentarily to pull it over his head.

She ran her hands over his strong chest and abdomen as he began fiddling with the buttons on her blouse, and sliding it off. He unclipped her bra and slid that off as well just when they reached the bed. Marlene gently pushed him down on it, and he pulled her down with him. Sirius leaned back against the headboard, pulling Marlene so she straddled his waist. Leaning forward so they were kissing again, she ran her fingers down his body until she reached his belt. She fumbled with the buckle for a moment before removing his pants and exposing his desire for her.

Sirius grabbed Marlene's waist then with one arm, flipping them over so he was now on top. He quickly removed her pants as well so they were each only in their underwear. He leaned over her, planting a chaste kiss on her lips, before starting a trail down her neck, over her chest, across her stomach. He pulled her panties down slowly, continuing his trail of kisses down her right leg. When he reached her toes, he moved to her left leg and started his way back up again, lingering on her most sensitive parts.

When he again reached her mouth, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip and she immediately allowed him access. She moaned as he slid two fingers into her and he nearly lost it at how wet she was for him already. Her fingers, which had gotten laced in his hair as they kissed, were suddenly digging into his back.

"Now," she begged him, and he didn't need telling twice. In a flash his boxer briefs were off and he plunged into her, eliciting pleasured groans from each of them. Sirius growled as Marlene's hands found their way back to his hair, pulling at it. He thrust into her one last time, causing her to cry out as he released into her and she unraveled around him.

He lay panting on her for a moment, each sticky with sweat, until finally he found the energy to roll off her. He looked at her as she lay beside him, eyes closed with a soft smile playing on her lips. He reached down and grabbed her right hand with his left, kissing her shoulder.

"Marlene?"

"Hmmm?" He took a deep breath, and squeezed her hand gently.

"I think I'm in love with you," he whispered, then a bit louder. "No, I know it. I love you Marlin." He grinned, though she couldn't see it, but his face slowly fell when she didn't respond for several moments.

"Marlene?" he tried again.

"Hmmm?"

"Did—did you hear me?" She sighed deeply, finally opening her eyes and turning to look at him, all traces of her smile gone.

"Yes. I was giving you the chance to pretend you hadn't said it." Sirius raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "People say all kinds of crazy things during sex. Maybe you didn't mean it."

"It wasn't _during _sex," he reminded her. "And I meant it." She groaned, releasing the hand that was still holding hers.

"Why do you have to say that?" she asked, the mood from just moments before now totally dead.

"Uhhh—" Sirius tried, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"You're not in love with me," Marlene said, adamantly. "You can't be."

"Why not?" Sirius asked, hoping desperately she couldn't hear the hurt in his voice. Marlene sat up and he quickly followed suit, but she went one step further and began rounding up her clothing to get dressed.

"Are you seriously that thick?" she asked, tugging on her jeans.

"Guess I must be," Sirius muttered from the bed.

"You're Sirius Black!"

"And you're Marlene McKinnon…"

"Exactly!"

"I don't follow…"

"We're not the I love you type! We're not even the dating type! You and I are the shagging only type," she explained. "And you, Sirius, are a damn good shag, but now you had to go and ruin it with stupid words!" She pulled her blouse on and started doing the buttons.

"It's not just words," he told her in one last attempt.

"_Yes_ it is," she replied. "Or it has to be if you want this to continue." She gestured between the two of them and at the bed.

"Well maybe I don't want it to then," he retorted. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Just, fine," she huffed. "We'll see how long _that _lasts." And she stormed out of the room while Sirius covered his face with his hands and fell back on the bed.

**Please Review! I am very curious how y'all liked this chapter, as I've never written anything like it before. Also, it will be good to know so I can decide whether to do it again in future chapters, or clean things up from here! Thanks! **

**And to my reviewers from last night:**

**THANKS FOR THE MOTIVATION!**

**HPGirl394 – Thanks! Glad you like it. Interested to hear (read?) what you think about this chapter!**

**Bookworm42x – Actually my grammar and spelling **_**are **_**very good (not is). Haha sorry, couldn't resist. But seriously, thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like it!**

**PrincessMoi – You may be a princess, but how bout a tonight update **_**please**_**? ;) Sorry it isn't quite "tonight", but like I said, pleasant surprise when you wake up tomorrow, right? Let me know if it was worth the wait!**


	8. Chapter 8

Early the next morning, Sirius wandered around the castle in the general direction of Gryffindor Tower. He hadn't slept well that night after Marlene had run out and he still couldn't quite believe how she had reacted to his words. He had almost reached Gryffindor Tower, when at the last minute he decided to go to the heads' dormitory instead. He needed to talk to James, he decided; James knew both Sirius and Marlene better than most anybody. He'd be able to help Sirius figure things out.

"James," Sirius called as he scrambled through the portrait hole into the heads' common room. "James!"

"Sirius! Could you pipe down? I'm trying to sleep here!" came a female voice from the coach. Sirius looked over and saw Lily Evans laying on it, propped up on her elbows and glaring at him.

"Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you, Evans. I'm just here to see—"

"James?" she interrupted sleepily. "I heard you. He's not here… never came back last night."

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Lily shrugged.

"How should I know? Probably off with Madison." She rolled her eyes, while Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Jealous, Evans?"

"No!" she answered a bit too quickly. "No… I just don't think she's right for him."

"Well of course she's not. You are. Or you would be if you could get your stubborn head out of your ass long enough to give him a chance." Lily shook her head, but didn't say anything. Sirius strode over to the armchair closest to Lily and fell into it. "Mind if I stay here?" he asked. "It's just… I really need to talk to James and I don't quite fancy going back to the dorms just yet."

"I guess…" Lily said, studying him. "Is everything alright?" Sirius sighed and put his head in his hands.

"I just need to talk to James," he said.

"Alright, but if you want to talk to someone else—" Lily began gently.

"I told her I love her," he muttered. Lily gaped at him, until finally he looked up from his hands at her, expectantly.

"Sorry," she said, quickly closing her mouth. "I guess I just didn't realize you were the 'I love you type'" Sirius groaned dropping his head back in his hands.

"Well apparently I'm not, since you're now the second person to say so. I didn't realize there was a 'type'."

"I'm sorry," Lily repeated, hesitantly reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're right, there's not a type, but I think you could maybe see why I, and I'm sure why Marly, would be surprised to hear it from you." Sirius shrugged, not looking up. "Anyway," Lily continued gently, "I think it's her you should be talking to, not me or Potter." Sirius shook his head.

"I tried talking to her," he said, miserably. "She doesn't want to hear it."

"Sirius, I know Marlene. She cares a lot about you, it's obvious. I'm sure you just surprised her." Sirius shook his head again.

"I don't think so. I mean at first, yeah, she was surprised, but then she told me to take it back and that I had ruined everything and that I'm nothing more to her than just a good shag." He groaned again. "The _one _girl who's more than that to me, is the one who doesn't give a bloody damn." Lily didn't know what to say, so she did the only thing she could think of. She got up off the coach and slid into the armchair, in the small space between the backrest and Sirius and wrapped her arms around the heartbroken boy.

"What the bloody hell is this?" James had entered the common room while Lily was still hugging Sirius and was gesturing wildly between the two of them. Lily quickly released Sirius and leapt off the armchair, returning to her seat on the coach. This made James even more suspicious, but he softened when he saw the disheartened look on his best friend's face.

"Padfoot? What's wrong?" he asked, walking over and sitting beside Lily on the coach. Sirius didn't answer, so Lily spoke for him.

"He told Marly he loved her, and she didn't respond exactly… as he had hoped." James looked surprised, then grinned.

"You're in love with Marly?! I _knew _it! This is great mate, and not even just because Pete owes me 10 galleons!" Sirius smiled weakly.

"Well I'm very happy for you that you won your bet, mate. Even if it is at my expense, but I think you might be missing the point." James looked puzzled for a moment.

"Right… she didn't say it back then?" he asked sympathetically after everything clicked. Sirius shook his head, and James sighed. "Well I can't say I'm surprised, after everything with her parents and all that, you know. Although honestly Padfoot, I'd probably be saying the same thing about you if it was her sitting here." He clapped Sirius on the back. "I'm happy for you, mate. Even if she didn't react quite like you wanted." Now it was Sirius and Lily's turn to look puzzled.

"What do you mean; everything with her parents?" Sirius asked eventually. James' eyebrows shot up, his face quickly morphing into an 'oh shit' expression, as he looked back and forth between Lily and Sirius, realizing they had no idea what he was talking about.

"Nevermind," he said hurriedly, "forget I said anything." He jumped up and started towards his room.

"James," Lily whined. "You can't say something like that and not tell us what you meant!"

"I can, and I just did. I—"

"Prongs," Sirius interrupted, "Please." James sighed.

"Oh, alright," he said, sitting back on the coach. "But only because I really think you oughta know." He turned to Lily, "And because _he _asked me to. Not you. I'm still angry with you." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'm angry with you too!"

"What? What did I—"

"James," Sirius growled, "get on with it."

"Fine," he huffed, with one last glare at Lily. He turned back to Sirius. "Let's see, how do I start? Erm—well, you know Marly lives with her grandparent's right—her mom's folks?" Neither Sirius nor Lily responded; they just looked at James blankly. Both were kicking themselves, realizing they had never questioned or paid attention to the fact that Marlene's 'parents' were much older than their own or that she referred to them as 'mema' and 'pop'.

Realizing they weren't going to answer, James continued: "Okay, well you at least know her sister Millie is a squib, right?" At this, Lily and Sirius both grinned and nodded—Marlene adored her little sister and was constantly bragging of her accomplishments in muggle school and her talent as a football player.

"Right, well when Marly and I were kids, her name was Marlene Greengrass—_not_ McKinnon. Her dad's family—the Greengrasses—well, I'm sure you've heard of them… they're not really _against _muggle-borns—not like Voldemort followers or your family Padfoot—but they're rather –er proud, I guess, of being Pureblood. Anyway, when Marly was 7 and they started to think Millie might be a squib, her dad was so ashamed. Maybe he wasn't, I guess, I don't know. But his family sure was, and because of that he was embarrassed. He blamed his wife for it; I guess there've been other squibs on the McKinnon side. He was pretty harsh about it, and eventually he left. Marly's mum killed herself 2 weeks later, and Marly and her brother and sister have lived with their grandparent's ever since."

As he told Marlene's story, James had been looking down, picking at the callouses on his hands. When he looked up, he saw Sirius looked shocked and almost… betrayed somehow. Lily looked like she was about to cry.

"Anyway," he continued awkwardly, "I reckon that's why she doesn't want to love you, mate. Afraid you'll pull something like her dad and she'll end up like her mum or something. She always blamed her mum for being weak, but I don't think she believes she's any stronger. Bullocks if you ask me, but…" He trailed off. Sirius stood and marched to the portrait hole in a daze.

"Excuse me," he said quietly.

"Padfoot, wait! Where are you going?" Sirius didn't answer as he clambered out of the heads' room. James groaned, but didn't follow.

"So what are you mad at me for?" he asked Lily after a minute.

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"Marlene!" Sirius yelled from the bottom of the stairs up to the girls' dormitories. "Hey! McKinnon!" The Gryffindor common room was empty, save for Sirius and a couple of OWL students who were already up studying. It was still quite early.

"Sirius, shhhhh!" Marlene said, appearing at the top of the stairs. "Are you trying to wake the whole house?"

"I need to talk to you," he said.

"Well can it wait? It's early and I—"

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" She stared blankly at him for a moment, confused.

"Tell you what, Sirius? We've always told each other everything."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he growled, "but you never told me _this._" She descended the stairs, and put her hand comfortingly on one of his crossed arms.

"Siri," she began softly, "I'm sorry, but I don't know _what_ you're talking about." She paused, then, with her eyes closed, as though praying that it wasn't: "Is this about last night?"

"No," he muttered, but when she looked relieved, he quickly continued, "but I stand by what I said. I meant it. Every word." Marlene groaned. Sirius stared at her for a minute, willing her to change her mind and wondering how the girl who stood before him, whom only yesterday he'd thought he'd known better than anybody, had suddenly become such a mystery to him. "This is about your parents," he said finally. "Why didn't you ever tell me about the Greengrasses or about your mum and da—".

"Shhhhh!" Marlene clapped her hand over Sirius' mouth. She glanced over to the group of fifth years who were all staring at the older pair. "You lot, clear out!" After they'd all scurried out of the room, Marlene turned back to Sirius. She removed her hand from his mouth and stepped back a bit. "How the _hell _do you know about that?" Sirius didn't answer, but comprehension dawned on her anyway.

"I am going to _kill_ James Potter."

"Why didn't _you_ tell me?" Sirius asked again, softly this time.

"I never told anybody. James only knows because—"

"Marlin," Sirius interrupted, and she softened a bit at the use of his nickname for her—a name he had stolen from her little sister who hadn't always been able to pronounce 'Marlene'. "Why didn't you tell _me_? After everything I've told you about my family… don't you think it might have helped me to know that you understood somehow? Don't you think it would have made us closer?" Neither spoke for a moment. They simply stared at one another. When Marlene finally broke the quiet her voice was hard and unfamiliar to Sirius.

"Yes, I think it would have made us closer." She paused for a moment, then: "And that's exactly why I didn't tell you." Sirius stared at her, his face blank, but Marlene saw the hurt and surprise he was trying so hard to hide in his grey eyes. She stared back, bottom lip quivering, though not enough for Sirius to notice. Then, abruptly, Marlene turned and ran up the girls' stairs, leaving a devastated and confused Sirius behind.

**A/N Well once again, I'm not sure how I like this. I'm afraid I'm making Sirius a bit too emotional, but at least I don't have him crying or anything like that, right? Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! **

**Next chapter will have more James and Lily and maybe more of some of the other couples. Let me know in your review if you'd like to see more interactions between:**

**James/Lily**

**Sirius/Marlene**

**Remus/Mary**

**Dorcas/Peter**

**Frank/Alice**

**The Marauders**

**The Girls**

**And I will try to accommodate. Thanks!**

**CHEERS! **


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